What about Kolb? Evaluating Week 7
Was Sunday's game against the Titans Kevin Kolb's final start of 2010? Here's an in-depth look at how he performed and why he struggled.
What about Kolb? Evaluating Week 7
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
After two very good starts against the 49ers and Falcons, Kevin Kolb struggled last Sunday in the Eagles' loss to the Titans.
Here's the weekly breakdown of how Kolb performed. As always, let's start with the pass distribution.
| Targets | Catches | Yards | YAC | Drops | |
| Jeremy Maclin | 12 | 5 | 42 | 12 | 1 |
| Jason Avant | 7 | 6 | 60 | 7 | 0 |
| LeSean McCoy | 7 | 6 | 54 | 54 | 0 |
| Riley Cooper | 6 | 3 | 51 | 4 | 0 |
| Brent Celek | 4 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| Owen Schmitt | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| Chad Hall | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Garrett Mills | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 41 | 26 | 231 | 90 | 1 |
Note that Kolb officially had 48 attempts. However, two of those balls were spiked to kill the clock on the final drive of the first half, and he threw four balls away out of bounds, plus one was batted at the line of scrimmage. I didn't count targets for any of those plays.
What stands out is the Kolb-to-Maclin connection. In the previous two weeks, Kolb had targeted Maclin 14 times, and those throws resulted in 13 completions for 254 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Against the Titans, Kolb targeted Maclin 12 times, and those throws resulted in just five completions for 42 yards.
The good news is Kolb was looking for him. The bad news is the pair wasn't on the same page. Early on, Maclin slipped on an attempt that looked like it would have resulted in a first down. Kolb's interception in the second quarter was targeted to Maclin, but horribly underthrown. On another play in the second, Kolb did a good job to escape pressure and roll to his right, but he was off-target with a throw in Maclin's direction.
With 1:10 left in the first half, Kolb had Maclin open deep on what should have been a touchdown, but again, he underthrew him. And finally, in the fourth quarter, Maclin couldn't come up with a ball that was in his hands. It would have been a big gain, but he was unable to hold on. The play was far from routine, but one that he should make, so I gave him a drop. What can I say? I'm a harsh grader this week.
Kolb-to-Avant was efficient, as they connected for six completions and 60 yards on seven targets. Cooper came up big, not only with the great play on the 37-yard gain at the end of the first half, but also the touchdown and a third-down conversion in the third quarter.
Celek still has been unable to get things going. I'll take a closer look at his numbers later in the week.
The YAC were pretty much non-existent. The total is 90 yards, but 54 of those were to McCoy, who caught the ball near the line of scrimmage. The Eagles had only 28 yards after the catch on 15 completions to wide receivers.
Eight different players had at least one reception.
THE BLITZ, PRESSURE, SHOTGUN, ETC.
Kolb saw more blitzes than he'd seen in previous weeks. He dropped back 48 times and was blitzed on 12 of those occasions. On throws against the blitz, Kolb completed 6 of 11 attempts for 55 yards. He was also sacked once.
On two of those incompletions, Kolb made good reads but poor throws. It's worth noting that Kolb got better against the blitz as the game went along, which is a good sign. He started off 1-for-5 (plus the sack) the first six times he was blitzed. In the second half, Kolb was 5-for-6 against the blitz.
Kolb was sacked just once, but saw pretty consistent pressure. He did a good job escaping at times, but was off-target with his throws.
In the pocket, Kolb was 22-for-37 for 177 yards. Out of the pocket, he was just 3-for-7 for 17 yards.
Under center, Kolb was 9-for-15 for 66 yards. In the shotgun, he was 16-for-30 for 128 yards.
Note that the 37-yard completion to Cooper is not included in either of the above categories since Kolb lined up out wide on the trick play.
The previous two weeks, the Eagles' offense killed teams with play-action passes. Against the 49ers and Falcons, Kolb was 18-for-21 for 335 yards off play-action. Against the Titans, he was just 3-for-8 for 17 yards on those attempts.
THIRD DOWN, RED ZONE
As a team, the Eagles did well on third down, converting 10 of 18 opportunities. Kolb was 8-for-14 for 43 yards on third down. Crazy stat: Of the first nine times Kolb dropped back on third down, the Eagles came away with eight successful conversions. It wasn't just one guy, either. Kolb targeted seven different receivers on third down, and five of them had third-down catches.
After the hot start, however, it got ugly. The next six times Kolb dropped back on third down, the Eagles came away with just one successful conversion.
The Eagles had four red-zone chances. The results were a touchdown, two field goals and a fumble. Kolb was actually pretty good in the red zone. He completed 5 of 8 throws for 30 yards. On the first red-zone possession, McCoy was dropped for 5 yards on second down after King Dunlap missed his block. That gave the Eagles a 3rd-and-goal from the 12 instead of the 7, and they had to settle for a field goal after a short completion.
On the second possession, Kolb made a nice read and throw to Cooper for the touchdown. The third possession resulted in a fumble, but Kolb made another nice throw to Cooper for 9 yards on 3rd-and-3 before the turnover. And Kolb couldn't connect with Maclin on the fourth red-zone possession on third down.
SUCCESS BY DISTANCE
Here's a chart of Kolb's throws by distance. I used the same ranges that Football Outsiders uses so we'd have a point of reference. Short is 5 yards or less. Mid is 6 to 15 yards. Deep is 16 to 25 yards. And Bomb is more than 25 yards. These are measured from the line of scrimmage to the point where the ball is touched, hits the ground or goes out of bounds.
| Completions | Attempts | Yards | |
| Short | 18 | 21 | 113 |
| Mid | 4 | 7 | 32 |
| Deep | 3 | 7 | 49 |
| Bomb | 1 | 6 | 37 |
At first glance, it looks like Kolb threw a bunch of balls Short (21 of 41 attempts, 51.2 percent). But the previous week against the Falcons, 15 of his 29 attempts (51.7 percent) were in the Short range.
The difference is completions. Against the Titans, 18 of 26 completions were Short (69.2 percent).
Kolb took shots downfield, but couldn't connect. He was just 3-for-7 on throws between 16 and 25 yards. On throws of more than 25 yards, he was 1-for-6.
As a means of comparison, Kolb was 6-for-6 on Deep and Bomb throws (combined) last week. In the previous two games, he was 9-for-11 on those throws.
Kolb underthrew receivers multiple times. Even the 37-yard completion to Cooper (the only Bomb completion) was severely underthrown, but the Eagles' rookie made a great play on the ball.
OVERALL
The numbers show 22 incompletions, but it's a little more complicated when you break it down. Four balls were thrown away, and two were spikes. Maclin and Cooper each slipped on two other incompletions. And McCoy didn't turn around in time on one. In other words, of the 22 incompletions, there were nine that should not be classified as Kolb just missing a receiver.
That's not to say he played well, though. Kolb definitely missed his share of throws, and multiple attempts were off-target to receivers open downfield. Those could have been big plays, game-changing plays.
Maybe I'm not being harsh enough, but this is what I expected from him in his first season as a starter. A good game here, a bad game there. A great throw on one play, a horrible mistake on the next. Those are the general growing pains we're used to seeing from someone with his level of experience.
Now it's unclear when he'll next start a game for the Eagles. Michael Vick is back at the helm after the bye, and Kolb is back on the sidelines.
What I've seen out of Kolb through the first seven weeks certainly suggests he can be an effective starting quarterback in this league. At times, he's looked great throwing the deep ball. In other instances, he's looked shaky. I think he has the arm. It's just a matter of Kolb improving in that area with timing and accuracy.
I actually thought he showed improvement in terms of sensing pressure last week. He was only sacked once, and that number could have been higher. But Kolb needs to be more accurate on throws after he escapes the pocket.
I was concerned about his confidence after getting benched, but Kolb looks to be mentally tough. He'll now go back to playing the role of the good solider and cheering Vick on from the sidelines, not knowing when his next opportunity is coming.
Yep, some rookies coming out of college look better than Kolb. The only reason Kolb did well the week before in the game against Atlanta is because he wasn't any type of pressure the entire game, he had plenty of time to make his throws. Thank is how he got "offensive player of the week". When he plays against the Titans, he got a lot of pressure, and he played awful, how much time does he need to develop, that is an excuse for Kolb and it is getting pretty old.— charmaine- As some have already stated, Kolbs does not have the arm strength to make the deep ball accurately and consistently. He's struggling to get it down field which has affected his accuracy, and he's simply not able to put enough velocity on his throws to take advantage of these ultra fast receivers that we have.
Furthermore, people need to look at the reasons everyone claimed KK was a better fit than McNabb and now Vick. The big thing everyone kept saying was Kevin Kolb was so much more accurate than McNabb. There was going to be no more underthrowing and receivers would now be catching balls in stride. Well clearly Kolb does not have the accuracy everyone claimed he has, and with the deep ball it's even worse. Does that mean he will never be able to complete a pass in the NFL? Of course not. It just means he has one more flaw to add to a fairly large list. So just in case we've forgotten, lets list them.
-He's interception prone.
-He's got a weak arm.
-Now we see he's not as accurate as people thought.
-He's not particularly mobile.
-He's hasty in his decision making and prefers to get rid of the ball to the first person he sees instead of seeing if there's open receivers down field.
So what then may I ask is the reason we are all saying he's the future of this team? What are his strengths? Does he have any? There's just nothing that stands out to me. Most of the great QBs in history have had at least one or more traits that they excelled at. Manning and Montana had their accuracy, Young could run, Favre had durability and the ability to improvise, Ellway had a great arm. Kolb has what?? Do we see him being a standout in any category now or in the future? I'm not talking the best mind you, but just plain being above average in something.
Clearly Vick, despite his flaws, has far more assets to work with, as did McNabb. Why do we want a low average QB as the future of this team?— JFW3 - Agreed, Kolb is nothing special but is a great backup to have. — brmorgen81
- As far as near interceptions, all the QBs have then every game. Doesn't matter if it's Brady or Manning. The bottom line is he didn't have them. While Kolb did play a subpar game, it must be remembered that both he and Collins were not very successful throwing into the wind. Kolb will be just fine, and I'm not a Kolb guy or a Vick guy. I'm for whoever can win that Lombardi for us.— REVOLUTION
- Kolb needs more reps? Are you kidding me? He had all the reps he needed during the summer when he was pronounce the starter which indicated that the coaches knew he was ready. Kolb had some pretty decent moments between the 5 games. We have Vick who just jump in after career slump and had turned up the heat. Now if Kolb jump in as a starter in the middle of the season, I would agree he needs more time to develop, but he didn't. Right now, we need Vick to develop. He's already good, we need time for him to be great. @wolf & @jtj06 we can talk about the Kolb salad later after the colts game.— gauwow
Comment removed.
Zeru, yeah people can have opposing views and not engage in some of the vitreol that some other "unnamed" posters do. The idea is to get the best QB out there. Right now it looks like Vick but if in the end it turns out to be Kolb I won't have a problem with that either. Some of these guys have got to stop seeing the QB as a black QB or a white QB. Gotta stop rooting for players in general. It's the team that's important, teeny boppers can apply elsewhere. Gettin' late. Later pal.— tpizza- Comment removed.
- It seem as if Kolb cannot have a bad game according to many of the the posters. He lost to the Titans. I believe the Eagles under Reid have never beaten the Titans, and Reid has a very poor record against good AFC teams. The NFC has a whole has a losing record against the AFC. So Kolb lost to a pretty good team after beating a decent team the week before. It happens, he's not going to go undefeated. But there were a lot of other problems that happened during that game that determined the outcome, especially on defense.— watsonmr
- In the last two weeks, against opponents who are 10-4, Kolb performed as well or better than all of the following QBs- Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Donovan McNabb. He led the only Eagle victory over a winning team in their last 23 games. In 5 total games against a fairly tough schedule- champs, 2 5-2 teams, and 2 weak teams- he has been NFL offensive player of the week twice. He led a victory over a team with a winning record, something that has been impossible for McNabb & Vick with essentially the same players. In those games he threw TD passes at a rate of 29 per 16 games. For perspective, McNabb beat that one season in his career and Vick has never passed for more than 20 in a season. So Kolb has produced. No question about it. Those are rock solid facts. If he maintains without improving, he will be a sure Hall of Famer. If he improves with more playing time...look out!— jtj06
- @jtj06.. have you see the current QB rating for Vick currently at 108.8% right now with only 2 1/4 games, even though its already decided, wouldn't you want to or hope you can hope he can continue that stats? It's the best for the team. We saw Kolb Stats 2 games before the Titans and they were great, and what did we say, let Kolb play because he is running hot. But anyhow, he went cold. We are currently half way in the season. Improving playing time is for before preseason. We need to pull off wins. Vick was able to beat the Jags who had beat the Colts, have a little confidences, Vick behind the line would have the offensive putting scores on the board, not field goals. — gauwow
- Yeah and Vick has a 90 game track record and has done this in the past. Check weeks 7 & 8 of his most recent season as a full time starter (Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, 2 wins: 37-57, 523 yds, 7 TDs and 2 INTs). Then check weeks 9-12 (Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore and New Orleans, 0 wins: 53-117, 571 yds, 3 TDs and 4 INTs). This is typical Mike Vick. He has played for years, looked great at times and turns around and looks horrible. How can anyone say, based on 2 games against dreadful defenses- Kitna will torch Jax this week too- that Vick is any better than the inconsistent, average-to-poor passer he was for 5 solid years? — jtj06
- That's not a misprint. That's 53-for-117 or 45% over 4 weeks in the NFL. That has to be a modern day record. Who else is capable of such a feat and that's just 7 starts ago for Vick. What has changed? — jtj06
- Ahhh Listen to the Moronic Philly fans at their best. Now Kolb, The NFL Player of the Week, prior to this last game, sucks. I've been cheering for the Eagles since Sonny was here and I've got to start siding with the Deadskins fans and Ravens fans down here. You people are idiots and jerks. The Titans are a good club and it was the Eagles Defense that gave up that game. Kolb has not a great game and you're down on him. How many starts has the guy had?? Give him a freekin' chance already, which it looks like he won't have since Vick is starting again. Fickle Philly fans - indeed.— Phillyexp
- Comment removed.
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